The present invention relates to an improvement in a recordable/reproducible information storage medium such as a memory card or the like.
More particularly, the present invention relates to an improvement in a removable, portable information storage medium suitable for recording/playing back digital still image information in combination with digital audio information.
The present invention also relates to a processing method of information (still image information, text information, or the like, which is associated with audio information) recorded on the information storage medium.
Removable, portable information storage media that record digital audio information include:
(A) a CD-DA (compact disc that records digital audio in the form of pits);
(B) a CD-I (CD interactive) or video CD;
(C) a DVD (digital versatile disc) video or DVD audio disc (phase change recording);
(D) an MD (a disc using magnetooptical recording); and
(E) solid audio (a semiconductor memory card such as a flash memory or the like, etc.
As the shape of the information storage medium itself, media (A) to (D) have a disc shape. In these information storage media, a recording layer on each medium is irradiated with convergent light of a laser beam while rotating the medium, and a change in light reflected by the recording layer is detected as a playback signal.
By contrast, medium (E) roughly has a card shape although various sizes and shapes are available. In medium (E), digital audio information is recorded in a semiconductor memory (mainly, a flash memory) built in a card-shaped body, and a recording/playback process of audio information is done via electrode terminals provided to a predetermined portion of the card surface. A memory card that belongs to medium (E) is used in, e.g., a digital camera.
In the conventional information storage media which has either a disc or card shape, upon editing (dividing, combining, etc. of a tune or music number) the recorded audio information (music piece or the like), a method of handling various kinds of information (still image information such as a jacket image or the like, text information such as words or lyric lines or the like) associated with the edited audio information (tune or music number) is not automated, resulting in troublesome handling for the user.